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Welcome to your Friday edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!

Tonight, I bring you a cool tune from Paul McCartney, “My Brave Face”. I always knew of this song, hearing it on the radio and such, but for some reason, I fell in love with it a couple years ago. I guess I never really knew it was Paul.

It’s a TOUGH song to sing and I just can’t seem to shake this cold lately, but I prepped myself by eating and drinking a lot before I did the take. It always makes me feel better.

There’s also some really tough lines to sing, as they have this odd syncopation to them. The line, “Ever since you left I have been trying to compose a ‘baby will you please come home’ note meant for you”. Are you kidding me? It took a while to get that one down.

But, I really like the way the whole video came out and I think you’ll agree it’s one of my more passionate ones.

Enjoy tonight’s video and make sure to get yourself back to http://www.LaptopSessions.com tomorrow for another new video from the one and only Chris Moore!

Happy 2015, everyone! For my first post of the year, I’m proud to bring you the full video from my concert celebrating the release of my 2014 album, “The Easy Ways”! In this concert, I play the album in its entirety. I made a special mix of the album without the lead vocals and lead guitar. So, I was able to play alongside that backing track to give the audience a real preview of what the album sounded like!

We had a great turnout and performance went off without a hitch. If you weren’t able to make it, it’s a great opportunity to watch and listen to the whole album! And, if you went, I’m sure you’ll want to relive the concert again and again.

The concert, like the album, is split into two sections. So, make sure to watch both videos. I’d love to hear any comments about the album and hope everyone enjoys.

Right off the bat, I have to address how proud I am of myself that I was able to suppress the strong urge to title this concert review “That’s Just the Way It Was.” As tempting as it was, I’m sure it’s already been used somewhere by someone…

At 8:02 on Friday night at the MGM Grand, only two minutes after the official start time of the concert, Bruce Hornsby appeared unceremoniously by walking out of the shadows, approaching his piano from stage right. No announcements, no opening band. (For a moment, I thought this might be a technician coming out for one last equipment inspection – and, if you’ve ever seen America perform, you know how many times it’s possible for a techie to inspect and tune the guitars!)

As he neared the piano, he surveyed the assortment of papers strewn about the top of his piano. Notes to himself? A set list? Lyrics for the less familiar tunes?

Negative, on all accounts.

Apparently, Hornsby does not work from a setlist. Instead, he takes in requests from the audience before shows in the form 0f handwritten song titles slipped onto the stage. His offical website reports, “Yes, it’s true. Bruce does not have a set list for his concerts. He comes up with the set list through requests from the audience. So, if you attend a concert, be sure to carry paper to write your requests on and place them on the stage.” This is a novel approach, to be certain. I wanted to participate in the process, but I have only been a “greatest hits” fan. Aside from that, I would have had to design a paper airplane that was a marvel of physics in order to have my request reach the stage from my seat in the “Parterre” section of the MGM Grand theater, which is French for orchestra seats (and, apparently, English for “far away from the stage, but still technically on the ground level”).

After a brief, positive commentary from Hornsby about the array of requests, he started into the first song. From the moment his hands touched the keys, it was apparent that he is truly a masterful musician, one of the few that is able to blend intricate classical arrangements into catchy pop/rock, country, and bluesgrass songs.

His first couple selections were played alone, but he was soon joined onstage by the Noise Makers (J.T. Thomas on keyboards, Bobby Read on saxophones (etc.), J.V. Collier on bass, Doug Derryberry on lead guitar, and Sonny Emory on drums). Soon after, they launched into the first song with which I was familiar. “Every Little Kiss” was all piano riffs and rock’n roll catchiness. Well, maybe more adult contemporary than rock, but…

This was the first of several “greatest radio hits” tracks that Hornsby and the Noise Makers performed, much to the delight of my father and I. Overall, the set list was a diverse collection of the hits, the deep tracks, and covers. Some were note-for-note replicas of studio versions, such as “The Good Life,” while others were stripped apart and turned inside out, like “The Way It Is.” There was a definite, if controlled sense of a jam band mentality. During the final jam of the main set, Hornsby slipped from one song to the next, folding in a couple of high-energy verses from Bob Dylan’s “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry.” I had begun to tire of the jamming by the end of the show, and this fine touch really brought it all back home for me. (Please send your criticisms of that shameless pun to Chris, care of a comment below…)

At one point, Hornsby left the piano to strap on his accordion and take center stage for two songs. As he approached the microphone with the new instrument, he commented that he had recently been with Levon Helm. He introduced the following song by saying that this would please those in the crowd who enjoyed nostalgia, as this was a track from the band — namely, “Evangelne.” The version did not disappoint and proved further that Hornsby is nothing if not an excellent multi-instrumentalist.

Hornsby was a personable, likable figure onstage. In between songs, he kept a running commentary going, reflecting on the state of the economy and thanking everyone for coming out to see him perform all the same. Early on, he revealed that Foxwoods management had told him to play for only 65 minutes. Just over an hour for some who had paid $50 plus a “convenience” charge — that’s outrageous! In his very laid-back manner, he said about as much and said they would stretch it to 90 minutes or so. It sounded as if they told him that 65 minutes was the suggestion and 90 minutes was the outside limit. He was true to his word, as the main set took the show’s running time to just over an hour and a half plus an encore.

Later on in the show, he expressed how happy he was that he remembered all the words to a track from his first album, a song that he played by request.

On the whole, this was a truly enjoyable concert. I have an increased respect for Hornsby’s abilities as a pianist and performer, the Noise Makers were a flexible and vastly talented group, and the MGM Grand is a comfortable environment with excellent acoustics. For my taste, there was too much of a jam band mentality on many of the selections — even Hornsby commented at one point that, due to the time limitations, the songs would be shorter than usual. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, he said. He continued, “There’s a fine line between self-expression and self-indulgence,” glancing with a grin to his bandmates. I couldn’t agree more.

This concert was a bonding experience of sorts for me, as my father is a longtime fan of Hornsby and an even longer-time fan of the song “The Way It Is.” While we both enjoyed the show, the low point of the show was indisputably their performance of the aforementioned hit single. Aside from the initial keyboard blast of the familiar riff, the song was given a new, more jumpy tempo and the tune was stripped apart into an understated sequence of lines. There was none of the charm of the studio version, and all biases being admitted, this version was nothing to brag about on its own. For those five minutes, I appreciated what it must be like to attend a Dylan concert expecting to hear faithful versions of his hits, only to be met with deep tracks and rearranged versions. Still, I maintain that the Dylan live experience offers up new and interesting, entertaining takes on his songs, whereas this was disappointing from all angles.

Regardless, the show as a whole was well worth the $35, and is an experience that I will remember fondly for years to come. Part of that comes out of a bias, but this time a positive one!

On their first live album, Jack and Meg White deliver adrenaline-fueled, frenetic performances of some of the best material from their catalog, tearing through each song with a raw energy that displays a simultaneous mastery of and disregard for form.